


You Remember Me

by hilandmum



Category: Stumptown (TV)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 21:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21905344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hilandmum/pseuds/hilandmum
Summary: This is an expansion of the line melissima mentioned. What else might happen between Ansel and Sue Lynn.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 16
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	You Remember Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [melissima](https://archiveofourown.org/users/melissima/gifts).



> I loved writing these scenes between Sue Lynn and Ansel, melissima. I hope I caught their voices and you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Sue Lynn Blackbird stopped to talk to Ansel on her way out of The Bad Alibi.

“It’s been a long time.”

“You remember me?” she asked.

He nodded. “You’re Benny’s mom.”

He studied her and smiled.

She’d only met him briefly, long ago when his sister Dex had dated her son Benjamin. Long before Benny was killed in action. Many in the tribe, including Benny’s wife Naomi, thought for many years that Dex talked Benny into joining up.

The next time she saw Ansel at the bar, though, he knew something more about her. “You’re the lady who runs the casino.”

She hadn’t known Dex had returned to Portland until she started gambling at the tribe’s casino. 

Ansel went back to cleaning a table.

Sue Lynn pressed her lips together. “I’m surprised Dex let you work here. Grey too. This is no place for a fine young man.”

“I’m twenty-one.” He smiled. “Do you think I should get a job at the casino? I wanted to be a bartender, but I’m not sure now but I’d like to work there.”

“No. That’s not a good job for you or a good place for you to work.”

He looked at the tall man with Sue Lynn. “Do you work at the casino?”

The man shook his head but didn’t speak.

***

Three days later, Ansel took a couple of buses to the casino. He walked in and stopped dead in his tracks. He’d never been in a place like that. The room was huge, bright and noisy, and he was in love.

He walked from table to table, slot machine to slot machine. “How do you play this?” But no one answered him. They were too absorbed in losing money. He’d seen machines like them before, but only one or two at a time. There had to be hundreds.

A door in one side wall read Office. Ansel knocked and when a voice said, ‘come in’, he entered.

Sue Lynn sat behind a large desk. Her shadow Hollis wasn’t there.

“Well, Ansel. What are you doing here?”

“I need a job and money to move to my own place.” He remembered that she’d always been kind to him. She made him a scarf once, his favorite for when it was cold.

“Don’t you like living with Dex?”

He worked his mouth before saying, “I want to be independent.”

Sue Lynn smiled. “The cry of every young man I’ve ever known.”

“I don’t have enough money to play any machines here, so I guess I have to earn more,” Ansel said.

“You think if you could play, you’d win?”

“Dex does sometimes.”

“More often than not, she loses.” She sat back. “Did Dex ever tell you I offered to raise you on the rez?”

“I’m not an Indian.”

She smiled. “The correct term is Native American or Indigenous Person.”

“I’m not one of those either.”

“No, you aren’t. But when she left, went to Afghanistan, I should have come for you.” She shook her head. “I was already too angry with her because of how she influenced Benny. And then he was killed.”

Before she could say anything else, a commotion out on the casino floor was so loud, they heard it.

“What’s happening?” Ansel asked.

Sue Lynn’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know, but my people will take care of it.”

The door burst open. Hollis didn’t look as stoic as usual. “Someone’s trying to rob the place.”

“How many?” Sue Lynn was already out of her chair. Ansel followed her to the door. “Can’t our people take care of it?”

“They’re trying, but there are almost a dozen masked and armed men.”

“I’ll call Dex.” Ansel took out his phone. 

Sue Lynn shook her head. “She’ll call her boyfriend the cop. We’ll handle this ourselves.” She turned to Hollis. “How many people can we bring in?” 

“Not enough at short notice,” Hollis said. “It’ll take twenty minutes for them to get here.”

Neither noticed Ansel slip out the door until it was too late. He hid behind a post and watched as men and women with drawn guns faced each other. Despite what Sue Lynn told him, he called his sister. “Dex. Come quick. Someone’s trying to rob the casino.” He rushed the words, but Dex would understand.

“I’ll be right there. Is Sue Lynn in her office?”

“I just left her there with Hollis.”

“Okay, but maybe you should go back. You’ll be safer there.”

“I’m not a child.” He heard his name called. Probably Sue Lynn. He didn’t want to go back to her office. Instead, he went from post to post, hoping to stay invisible.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. “Hello, Hollis.” He smiled because that always caused Dex to forgive him no matter what he did. He could tell right away the smile didn’t affect Hollis.

“Your sister called. She gave Sue Lynn the right to whatever she thought best with you.”

“Guess it’s back to the office, right?” Ansel tried to think of what Dex would do under the circumstances.

“Sue Lynn doesn’t need to worry about you right now,” he said.

One of the gunman, strolling through the casino, caught sight of them. “You two. Go stand with the rest of the staff and customers.”

Hollis shot Ansel a deep frown.

“I wanna play a game and he won’t let me.” Ansel distanced himself from Hollis. “Can I play one?”

“Listen, kid. Go stand with those other players, out of the way. You could get hurt.”

“I’m not a kid. But you’re keeping me from playing one of the games.” Ansel did his best to throw a fit, short of rolling on the floor crying. 

Hollis must have caught on to what he was doing because his frown disappeared, to be replaced by an impassive face but hunched shoulders.

Ansel banged a fist on the nearest slot machine. Money poured out of it. He was as surprised as everyone. With a smile, he tried to scoop the money up.

“Leave it,” the head gunman said. 

Just then, Dex, Grey and Miles came through one door and several tribal members through another. Ansel’s smile turned to a grin. He’d distracted the robbers long enough.

***

An hour later, Dex and Ansel stood before Sue Lynn’s desk. “Thank you, Ansel.” Sue Lynn handed him a hundred dollars.

“That’s all he gets? He saved you thousands.”

“Go home, both of you. Ansel, you don’t belong here, but come visit me at Whispering Winds. I may have a job for you. A place to live, if you want it.” She smiled. “Even if you’re not Native American.”


End file.
